The Department of Energy (DOE) expects that a massive roof fall will occur at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) within the next couple of weeks. The collapse of the ceiling in Panel 7, Room 6 is within 200 feet of where workers are emplacing plutonium contaminated radioactive and hazardous waste. http://www.wipp.energy.gov/wipprecovery/Presentations/Town_Hall_Slides_09_28_17.pdf, slide 11. Nevertheless, DOE has not publicly committed to keeping workers out of the area when the ceiling falls.

In February 2014, a radiation release in the adjacent Panel 7, Room 7 contaminated a large portion of the underground salt mine, including all seven rooms in Panel 7. Since then, workers in that area must wear personal protective equipment and respirators to prevent radiation exposure. DOE officials state that equipment also can protect workers from possible increased exposures caused by the release of toxic and radioactive materials when the ceiling collapses.

MSHA has prohibited entry into Room 6 since September 13, 2016, because of dangerous conditions in the room. On December 22, 2016, DOE informed the New Mexico Environment Department that Room 6 has six pieces of radioactively contaminated equipment that contain an estimated 581 gallons of hydraulic fluid, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant, and battery acid. DOE also stated, “the risks to workers associated with entering Room 6 to drain fluids and remove batteries far outweigh the risk associated with abandoning the equipment in its present state.” http://www.wipp.energy.gov/library/Information_Repository_A/Follow-up_Reports/16-3341_Redacted.pdf

Don Hancock, of Southwest Research and Information Center, said, “There is no reason that workers should be in Panel 7 when the ceiling collapses in Room 6. The collapse could cause a fire or release additional radioactivity from the floors and walls where waste is being emplaced. Quickly evacuating workers when the collapse occurs could result in injuries. If safety is the number one priority, DOE should prohibit workers from being in Panel 7 until the effects of the roof fall can be fully examined.” http://www.sric.org/

Last Friday, the Nobel Committee awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) “for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.” https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2017/ ICAN is a civil society leader for achieving the recent Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a legally binding, multilateral treaty prohibiting the development, testing, production, acquisition, possession, stockpiling and the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. It provides a clear path to a world without nuclear weapons and is rooted in international humanitarian law, the United Nations Charter, and humanitarian principles. http://www.undocs.org/en/a/conf.229/2017/L.3/Rev.1

On July 7, 2017, the Treaty was adopted by 122 nations of the United Nations, or nearly two-thirds of the nations of the world. When the Treaty was open for signature on September 20, 2017, three nations signed and their governments had already ratified it. In total, 53 nations have signed the treaty, which will enter into force when 50 nations have both signed and ratified it. http://www.icanw.org/status-of-the-treaty-on-the-prohibition-of-nuclear-weapons/

ICAN is a coalition of 468 non-governmental organizations in 101 countries. By harnessing the power of the people, they have worked to bring an end to the most destructive weapon ever created – the only weapon that poses an existential threat to all humanity. http://www.icanw.org/

The Nobel Committee recognized the decades of campaigning against nuclear weapons from the first nuclear weapon test in New Mexico at the Trinity Site on July 16, 1945, to the bombings of civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945, to the thousands of nuclear weapons tests around the world.

ICAN said, “This prize is a tribute to the tireless efforts of many millions of campaigners and concerned citizens worldwide who, ever since the dawn of the atomic age, have loudly protested nuclear weapons, insisting that they can serve no legitimate purpose and must be forever banished from the face of our earth.”

As the leaders of the United States and North Korea continue to hurl verbal insults about possible nuclear war, there is heighten awareness that the world needs a mechanism to eliminate nuclear weapons. The Nobel Committee called upon the nuclear-armed states, including the United States and North Korea, to initiate serious negotiations to abolish nuclear weapons.

In their statement, ICAN stated, “This is a time of great global tension, when fiery rhetoric could all too easily lead us, inexorably, to unspeakable horror. The spectre of nuclear conflict looms large once more. If ever there were a moment for nations to declare their unequivocal opposition to nuclear weapons, that moment is now.”

Outfall No. 051 at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is a discharge pipe connected to a key facility, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility. The Clean Water Act only regulates facilities that actually discharge pollutants. After November 2010, the Facility became a zero-liquid-discharge system, meaning the discharge pipe would no longer be used. Since then LANL has been using a Mechanical Evaporator System to evaporate treated water into the air, and nothing has been discharged through the Outfall. Nevertheless, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still includes Outfall 051 in the permit that it issues to LANL.

This has a serious impact. The Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility manages a lot of hazardous waste, and the New Mexico Hazardous Waste Act would normally regulate it with prescribed public review and comment. But, under an EPA rule, called the Wastewater Treatment Unit exemption, if LANL is regulated under a Clean Water Act permit, Outfall 051 and the Facility are exempt from the Hazardous Waste Act.

LANL has struggled to keep this exemption. In a 1998 report about converting the Facility to a zero-liquid-discharge system, LANL acknowledged that if it stopped discharging through Outfall 051, it could lose the exemption, and the “[L]oss of this exemption would mean that the [Facility] would be required to meet additional [hazardous waste] regulatory guidelines regarding waste treatment practices. … The [Facility] would need to manage the [pollutants] in the waste stream and so have much better knowledge of, and control over, waste discharged to it for treatment.” It also acknowledged that citizen oversight would increase under the hazardous waste regulations.

Now, in 2017, the Facility has had a zero-liquid-discharge system for over six years. Even so, EPA has issued a Clean Water Act permit for Outfall 051, thereby continuing its exemption from Hazardous Waste Act regulation. EPA claims it did so because LANL said it might someday need to discharge pollutants. But LANL has not used the Outfall for more than six years.

In June 2016, CCNS, through its attorneys, Jon Block with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center, and Lindsay A. Lovejoy, requested EPA to terminate Outfall 051 from the permit. In August 2017, EPA denied CCNS’s request. In response, in September, CCNS appealed the denial to the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board in Washington, DC. The entire appeal can be viewed in the following encapsulation of PDFs here: CCNS FILING WITH EAB 20170914 Or you can view individual documents by clicking on the following links:

Joni Arends, of CCNS, said, “LANL has been hiding behind the wastewater treatment unit exemption for over six years. EPA should terminate Outfall 051 from the Clean Water Act permit so that the State of New Mexico can take on the regulation of this hazardous waste facility.”

Please join the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium for a peaceful demonstration to bring attention to the health issues resulting from overexposure to radiation following the Trinity atomic bomb test on July 16, 1946. On Saturday, October 7th, the Consortium will gather at two of the entrances to the White Sands Missile Range when the U.S. Army opens the Trinity Site for people from around the world to visit the radioactively contaminated site. http://www.wsmr.army.mil/Trinity/Pages/Home.aspx

Beginning at 7:45 am, the Consortium will gather at the Tularosa Gate, located on the Tulie Gate Road, west of the Tularosa High School, for a one-hour peaceful demonstration.

Beginning at 9 am, the Consortium will gather at the Stallion Range Station on Highway 380, 12 miles east of San Antonio, for a three-hour peaceful demonstration. Please bring your own water, chair, hat, and a poster or sign.

On July 16, 1945, just before dawn, the U.S. government conducted the first test explosion of a plutonium bomb at the Trinity Site. Without warning, the 40,000 people living in the immediate vicinity were engulfed in a radioactive cloud that continued to rain down radioactive particles for days, weeks and months. The government packed their bags, turned their backs and walked away. For 72 years it has taken no responsibility for the health repercussions to those exposed.

The Consortium will provide information about their Health Impact Assessment that documents the harm done to those living downwind of the Trinity Site and their efforts to ensure that the Trinity Downwinders are included in the proposed amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). In 1990, Congress passed RECA to provide medical care and compensation to those living downwind of the Nevada Test Site, another location used for testing nuclear weapons aboveground. RECA was amended in 2000. The Trinity Downwinders have never been included, even though over $2.2 billion has been paid in claims. https://www.justice.gov/civil/common/reca, https://www.justice.gov/civil/awards-date-09272017

The Consortium has documented the harm in its Health Impact Assessment, entitled, “Unknowing, Unwilling and Uncompensated: The Effects of the Trinity Test on New Mexicans and the Potential Benefits of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Amendment.” https://www.trinitydownwinders.com/health-impact-assessment

Tina Cordova, a co-founder of the Consortium, said, “Seventy-two years have passed. Now is the time for the U.S. Government to recognize those who were unknowing, unwilling, uncompensated, innocent participants in the world’s largest science experiment, who have been suffering in silence ever since the bomb was detonated. Our organization is revealing the rest of the story and the People are being made aware of the complete legacy of Trinity.”

For more information, please contact Tina Cordova at 505-897-6787 or by email to tcordova@queston.net. For information about the Tulie Gate gathering, please contact Kathy Tyler at 575-585-2896. For information about the Stallion Range Gate gathering, please contact Louisa Lopez at 575-835-8146. TBDC Trinity Site Protest Fall 2017

On Tuesday during his first speech at the United Nations, the U.S. President threatened the use of nuclear weapons. In contrast, on Wednesday, September 20th, at the United Nations, heads of state and senior officials from 50 Nation States, representing billions of people from across the world, signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The legally binding, multilateral Treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, acquisition, possession, stockpiling and the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons – all leading to a world without nuclear weapons. http://www.undocs.org/en/a/conf.229/2017/L.3/Rev.1

These Nation States, as well as others who are expected to sign the Treaty, will have to take a second step to ratify, accept, approve or accede to the Treaty and deposit their Nation’s papers with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

On Wednesday, three Nation States both signed the Treaty and submitted its ratification papers. The three Nation States are Guyana, the Holy See at the Vatican, and Thailand.

Ninety days after 50 Nation States sign and ratify the Treaty, it will go into full force and effect.

Thousands of people worked to bring the Treaty to fruition, including activists from civil society, doctors, lawyers, scientists, diplomats, and parliamentarians. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, http://www.icanw.org/, the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Weapons, https://www.ialana.info/, and Reaching Critical Will, a project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, http://reachingcriticalwill.org/, played essential roles to ensure the passage of the Treaty. The Treaty is based on international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It is modeled upon treaties that have banned chemical weapons, land mines, biological weapons, and cluster munitions.

Nine Nation States, possessing nearly 15,000 nuclear weapons, did not sign the Treaty. They are, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States. Campaigns are underway to urge these countries to sign the Treaty.

From the United Nations website: “Achieving global nuclear disarmament is one of the oldest goals of the United Nations. This Day provides an occasion for the world community to reaffirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament as a high priority. It also provides an opportunity to educate the public—and its leaders—about the real benefits of eliminating such weapons, and the social and economic costs of perpetuating them.” http://www.un.org/en/events/nuclearweaponelimination/index.shtml

Daily on-site blessings of Northern New Mexico waters is the theme for the twenty-first Gathering for Mother Earth Waters, which will be held from Wednesday, September 20th through Saturday, September 23rd at sites in Abiquiu, Pilar, Nambe, and at the Pojoaque Pow Wow Grounds. Tewa Women United and colleagues are organizing the events and invite you to join in the blessings. Please bring a sack lunch, drinking water, a chair, shade, sunscreen, and follow the blue balloons to each site. http://tewawomenunited.org/

On Wednesday, September 20th, beginning at 10 am, participants will gather at the Northern Youth Project Garden in Abiquiu to Celebrate the Harvest. http://www.northernyouthproject.org/ During lunch, there will be a discussion of traditional foods, water, and life, followed by music, dance, storytelling, and poetry. For more information, contact northernyouthproject@gmail.com.

From 6 pm to 8 pm, there will be a moon ceremony at Tewa Women United, at 912 Fairview Lane, in Española.

On Thursday, September 21st, beginning at 10 am, participants will gather at the Lone Juniper Campsite in Pilar for Peace Day. https://www.blm.gov/visit/orilla-verde-recreation-area There will be blessings of water and Avanyu, and a traditional seed exchange will be held. During lunch, a talking circle about water health and healthy foods will be held. For more information, contact addelinalucero@gmail.com

On Friday, September 22nd, a celebration of the Autumnal Equinox will take place at Nambe Falls. http://nambepueblo.org/?page_id=935 Beginning at 10 am there will be a welcoming, an opening, and discussion of Avanyu as Water is Life. During lunch, there will be a discussion about sustainable practices. For more information, contact Elder Kathy Sanchez, of Tewa Women United, at 505 747-3259, extension 1203.

From 6 to 8 pm there will be an Autumnal Equinox, Water, and P’oe Avanyu celebration at the Poeh Museum, in Pojoaque. http://poehcenter.org/ For more information, please contact Karl Duncan, at 505-455-5040, extension 5054.

Finally, on Saturday, September 23rd, the Gathering will be at the Pojoaque Pow Wow Grounds. The Gathering site is 1.8 miles west of the Hwys 285/84 interchange in Pojoaque, on Hwy 502, near the Pojoaque High School. Please look for the signs. Beginning with a 6:30 am sunrise blessing, a water blessing and talking circle will follow. At 11 am, Andrew Kimbrell, of the Center for Food Safety, will speak. https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/andrew-kimbrell At 11:30 am, a light luncheon will be served. For more information, please contact Elder Kathy Sanchez, at 505-747-3259, extension 1203.

Elder Sanchez, invited everyone to attend. She said, “We are asking everyone to be present with their whole loving energies at our beloved waters.”

The first day for nations to sign the historic Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is Wednesday, September 20th, when the General Assembly of the United Nations begins its 72nd session in New York City. Nearly two-thirds of the 192 members of the U.N. adopted the treaty on July 7th. The schedule is available at http://www.icanw.org/campaign-news/sign-the-nuclear-ban-treaty/ At a time when threats of nuclear war are so high, your actions to support the Treaty will make a difference. A number of colleague organizations have created actions you can take to urge your leaders to sign the treaty, participate in the 2018 United Nations High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, and do everything in their power to abolish nuclear weapons.

The treaty outlaws the development, testing, manufacture, acquisition, possession, transportation, or threat to use nuclear weapons, leading to their eventual elimination. It stigmatizes these weapons of mass destruction in a manner similar to the international treaties that prohibit chemical weapons, biological weapons, anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions. http://www.undocs.org/en/a/conf.229/2017/L.3/Rev.1

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons states that the treaty “is a historic breakthrough in the efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons, and is a counter-measure to escalating tensions and increasing focus on nuclear weapons by the nuclear-armed states. The treaty will set a powerful norm and impact behavior and policies even in states that initially do not join.” http://www.icanw.org/campaign-news/sign-the-nuclear-ban-treaty/

The U.S. did not participate in the treaty negotiations. Now is the time to make your voice heard.

Third, the United Nations will hold a High-Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament in 2018. Unfold Zero is urging people to send a letter, email or tweet to the President calling on the U.S. to sign the treaty, to participate in the 2018 High Level Conference on Nuclear Disarmament, and do everything in his power to abolish nuclear weapons everywhere. A sample letter is available at http://www.unfoldzero.org/26-september-2015/#

Fourth, Tuesday, September 26th is the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. Organize an event to show the documentary, “The Man Who Saved the World,” about when, at the height of the Cold War, Stanislav Petrov, a worker in a Soviet nuclear early warning center, prevented nuclear holocaust by going against protocol by not launching retaliatory nuclear weapons. http://www.unfoldzero.org/26-september-2015/# For more information, contact info@unfoldzero.org.

The Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) hosted a public meeting about four major modifications to the New Mexico Environment Department hazardous waste permit that would delay comprehensive cleanup of the large unlined dumps carved into the volcanic tuff and decrease protection of the regional drinking water aquifer below the site. PMR August 30 2017 Public Meeting Slides[1]Please note that the LANL Slide No. 16 does not accurately reflect the two public review and comment processes – this one initiated by DOE/LANL, and the next one, a regulatory process initiated by the New Mexico Environment Department. Public comments about both are needed. Activists argue that this permit process must be stopped because the Environment Department has not developed and implemented the required public participation policy as required by the January 2017 resolution agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Environment Department.

The four modifications, which are often called a “Monster Mod,” proposes major and significant changes to the final LANL hazardous waste permit issued by the Environment Department in November 2010. DOE and LANL filed lawsuits in both state and federal courts to block portions of the permit. Seven years of negotiations ensued resulting in a complex Settlement Agreement which requires modifying the permit. CCNS was a party to the litigation, but did not sign the Settlement Agreement. http://nuclearactive.org/doelanl-host-august-30th-public-meeting-about-less-cleanup-less-groundwater-protection/

On a similar path, Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD), based in Albuquerque, challenged the hazardous waste permit for a proposed hazardous waste dump east of Roswell, called Triassic Park. The Environment Department and the Applicant did not translate key documents into Spanish for limited English proficient individuals so they could fully participate in the permit process, among other things. To correct the discrimination they encountered, CARD filed a Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 complaint with EPA. After many years of EPA inaction, CARD joined with similar groups that had filed Title VI complaints, to sue EPA. In January, EPA and the Environment Department settled the Triassic Park complaint by signing an Informal Resolution Agreement. The 15-page Agreement requires the Environment Department to develop and implement a public participation policy that includes requires outreach to impacted communities. http://nuclearactive.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/EPA_FINALResolutionLetterandAgreement_TriassicPark_Complainant_011917.pdf

Which brings us back to the LANL Monster Mod. Three members of the public attended the meeting, clearly demonstrating the lack of outreach to the impacted communities. Key documents have not been translated for use in Northern New Mexico.

Janet Greenwald, a CARD co-coordinator, attended the meeting and spoke to the lack of compliance with the EPA Informal Resolution Agreement. She said, “The Environment Department has not informed communities downwind of LANL about the current proposal to modify LANL’s state hazardous waste permit. This is not right. The omission violates the intent of the recent Resolution Agreement between the Environment Department and the Environmental Protection Agency in Dallas. The public process must be stopped until the required community outreach is completed.”

The Department of Energy (DOE) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are proposing less groundwater protection and less cleanup of unlined dumps containing radioactive, hazardous, and toxic pollutants under a permit modification they recently submitted to the New Mexico Environment Department. Modifying the hazardous waste permit, as proposed, would allow DOE and LANL to continue to dispose of low-level radioactive waste at Area G as other dumps are closed, despite assurances last fall that they would stop; and prevent regulation of the 54-year old Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility as a hazardous waste facility; among others. http://nuclearactive.org/ccns-decries-lack-of-water-protection-in-nmed-and-lanl-agreement/

DOE and LANL are hosting a public meeting to discuss the permit modification on Wednesday, August 30th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos.

The permit modification is the result of federal and state litigation between the federal and state government. In December 2010, DOE and LANL sued the New Mexico Environment Department over requirements in the final hazardous waste permit. The parties recently came to a settlement in which DOE and LANL were required to submit a permit modification that reflects the settlement agreement. The Environment Department Hazardous Waste Permit is available at https://www.env.nm.gov/HWB/Permit.htm and the 312-page permit modification request is available at http://permalink.lanl.gov/object/tr?what=info:lanl-repo/eprr/ESHID-602518 The Settlement Agreement begins on p. 21 of the permit modification.

The public will have the opportunity to provide public comments to the Environment Department by Friday, September 22nd. CCNS will prepare sample public comments for you to use, following the public meeting.

In 2010, CCNS also sued the Environment Department in state court because the final hazardous waste permit was not protective of groundwater and did not ensure the best cleanup of nearly 75 years of dumping, emitting and discharging pollution into the soil, air, and water, and by extension, into our bodies. CCNS is a party to the hazardous waste permit litigation, but did not sign the settlement agreement. The New Mexico Environmental Law Center represents CCNS.

Joni Arends, a co-founder and executive director of CCNS, said, “CCNS remains committed to critical cleanup of the unlined dumps that are leaking into our regional drinking water aquifer. The settlement agreement and resulting permit modification support the myth that DOE and LANL know how to cleanup leaking dumps and protect regional drinking water supplies. This is not the case. DOE and its contractors have a long track record of failed cleanups at DOE sites across the country.”

Other threats to our health and safety from LANL, including fires, electrical problems, and near criticalities have been documented in the Center for Public Integrity’s five-part series called Nuclear Negligence. https://apps.publicintegrity.org/nuclear-negligence/

Arends continued, “It’s time to get involved again. To stay informed, please sign up on our website to receive the weekly Updates, and check out our Facebook page and Twitter feeds.”

The Santa Fe City Council will vote August 30 on a proposed ordinance that would strip away our rights to protect our health, safety, and property. It would enable the wireless industry to put cell tower transmitters on every block in front of people’s homes without their consent or their ability to object for any reason.
Bill No. 2017-22 would repeal most zoning regulations that now protect us. It would allow cell tower transmitters to be built
• on any street or sidewalk
• without a public hearing
• without notice to neighbors
• without notice to the public
• without an application
• without information regarding radio frequency radiation
• without proof of compliance with the FCC’s safety rules

Cities all over the country are opposing similar legislation. An Ohio law that repealed zoning regulations for wireless facilities throughout Ohio was challenged by 70 cities and was overturned by a court. A California bill that would do the same thing in California, S.B. 649, is being opposed by 216 cities, 34 counties, and 45 health, environmental, and consumer justice organizations.

Tell the Santa Fe City Council to VOTE NO
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2017, 7 PM
CITY HALL, 200 LINCOLN AVE.
info: 471-0129

ACTION YOU CAN TAKE TO SUPPORT THE TULAROSA BASIN DOWNWINDERS CONSORTIUM ON RECA AMENDMENTS

Please contact the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Minority Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and ask them to set the date for the RECA Oversight Hearing. Knowing the September hearing date will allow us to properly prepare for the hearing. The hearing will be televised on C-SPAN and on the Judiciary Committee’s website.